Brave Enough
by SongsofPsyche1945
Summary: Modern AU/Fili/Kili Mentions of non/con, PTSD, and trauma. After a devastating accident, Kili was forced back to his hometown and to move back in with his parents. He never expected to heal, let alone fall in love again. Then, he met Fili.


888

"You're going on a date on Friday night."

I looked up at my mother from the book I was reading. I was quietly tucked away in my reading nook, a place where I knew no one would bother me, but I guess mothers really do know everything.

"What?" I asked

"A date. Friday night." She said

"With who?"

"Fili." She said, and then she smiled like this was the best idea she had in a century.

I raised my eyebrows at her, "Fili who?"

"My friend Elaine's son. We went out for coffee today and thought you two would be perfect for each other."

"Mom, thanks for the offer but I don't think I can date anyone right now," I said

"Honey, it's been three months, you need to get yourself back out there."

"Three months since what? Three months since the funeral? Three months since I finally started feeling like a human being again?" I said

"Your father and I just think its time. You can't spend the rest of your life drowning away in sorrow up here."

"I'm not drowning away in sorrows-."

"And we have decided that you need just a little push."

"I don't need-."

"Just go on the date, Kee. If you hate him you'll never have to see him again. But just try, for me?"

I sighed, and then looked up from my book. She really did mean well.

"Okay, mom, one date with this guy and that's it and after this date; no more badgering. You promise?" I said

She smiled, "It's a deal."

I didn't really think much about my blind date, once the week started and I was back at work at the French Quarter Daily headquarters. I was a writer….or at least I wanted to be a writer. After everything that had happened, I was given some time off. When I came back, they had put me in charge of creating the weekly crossword puzzle, and when that was out of the way they made me write little fluffy pieces about cats rescued from trees or long lost lovers united over a beignet. What I really wanted to do was finish writing my novel, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. It was on permanent hiatus.

So there I was, working away at the next week's crossword puzzle when I heard a light knock on my office. I looked up to see two men that I had never met before smiling at me.

"Hi, are you Kieran?" the first one asked.

I nodded my head, "Yes, but nobody calls me Kieran except for the people summoning me to jury duty. You can call me Kee."

"Hi Kee. May we come in?" the first one, who was tall and blonde with bright blue eyes.

"Sorry to drop by unannounced, but this is our only lunch break. Then we have to go out in the Bayou and report about some self-flushing toilet swamp." Said the second one, who was thin, and short.

I smiled uncertainly. I wasn't used to having people in my office.

"Sure."

"Let me introduce ourselves. My name is Bilbo, and this is Ori. We work at NON, we're reporters." The blonde man—Bilbo- started

"And also friends of Finley-Fili," Ori answered.

"Fili?" I asked lost for a moment, and then I remembered my promise to my mother.

"Oh. Blind Date Fili." I said

"Yes."

"Blind Date Fili. Exactly."

"We just wanted to talk to you about him. May we come in and sit?" Bilbo asked

"Sure" but I was still a little uncertain.

They came inside and sat down.

"So you write the crossword puzzle?" Ori asked

I nodded my head.

"Interesting."

"So. Fili. We wanted to come to talk to you about Fili." Bilbo said seriously.

"Okay."

"Fili is….a very close friend and I—we—would hate to see him hurt-."

"He's gone through so much in the past year, we just wanted to make sure you knew what to expect."

"So nothing unexpected will happen on Friday."

I nodded my head, "Okay."

"SO where to start…" Bilbo started

"The beginning?"

"Okay."

"Fili was married right out of college," Bilbo said

"His high school sweetheart," Ori added

"And they were happy. Happiest couple I have ever seen. But then….."

"6 months ago something happened….there was an accident…something happened with Fili, he was assaulted."

"Sexually."

"By someone we thought was a friend. Fili was okay, but it changed him. He was never the same after that night."

"And his partner couldn't handle what happened to him, because –you know—it doesn't happen to men often. They didn't understand, they thought he had cheated on him."

"So he left him. Simple as that." Ori finished his eyes grave.

"That was 3 months ago. And Fili, well, Fili hasn't spoken a word since the accident."

"So that's what we wanted to tell you. Just so you were prepared for Friday."

"He's still a great guy, but he just doesn't talk." Ori finished.

They both looked up at me, waiting for a reaction, waiting for me to say something.

"Thank you for telling me," I said

"Are you still going to go on the date?" Bilbo asked

"Because we think it would be really _really_ good for him to go," Ori added

I nodded my head, "Yes, I'm still going to go. Any suggestions on what we might do?"

"No Karaoke," Ori said at once.

"We tried that. It was a disaster." Bilbo said.

"Maybe a movie, but nothing with romance. Or violence. Or sex."

"Or swearing."

"Or perilous moments"

"Or Las Vegas."

"So that leaves documentaries. There's a good one right now playing at the Fox that's about the guy who created the windshield wiper. That would be perfect." Bilbo said

"For making both of them fall into a coma," Ori said, rolling his eyes.

"How does Fili communicate?" I asked

"What?"

"Well, if he doesn't want to talk, he must communicate his wants and needs somehow. Does he write them down? Or sign them?" I asked

"He does best with yes or no questions-."

"And he does this one thing with his hand…..like this…" then he put up his hand and moved it quickly forwards, then backward.

"It means "stop it", he does it whenever someone tries to touch him, or get to close."

"And when he wants to he'll write down his answer on a piece of paper."

"Sometimes he will text."

"When he's in the right mood," Bilbo said

I nodded my head, "Okay. I can handle that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't mind. I have an idea, actually." I said, suddenly feeling a lot warmer towards Fili and our date on Friday night.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking, maybe he and I could meet at The Library. It's a café off of Royal Street that is kinda like a library, there are books and a fireplace and everyone has to be quiet, we can text or write notes to each other. What do you think?"

Ori smiled, "I think it's brilliant."

"He doesn't scare you?" Bilbo asked after a few beats.

I shook my head, "No. Not at all. It makes me sad his partner didn't stay with him, it sounded like he really needed them, and they bailed."

Bilbo nodded his head, "That's what I think too. It was a sucky move, and now we have to pick up the pieces."

"But we don't mind, because he's our friend and we want him to be happy again."

"He didn't deserve what happened to him. But it wasn't his fault. Nobody is to blame but his attacker." Ori said, and for the first time, the playful glint in his eye darkened.

"I agree. Anyway, that's what we wanted to come to say. Here's our card with our numbers. If the date goes well, and you want to see Fili again, call us and we can all go out." Bilbo said

"And we will be nearby on Friday if you run into trouble."

"Thank you, Ori and Bilbo. I appreciate it." I said

"Really? It wasn't weird?" Bilbo asked

"I thought it was kinda weird. But it was your idea, Bilbo." Ori replied

"Don't tell him we stopped by…or maybe do and his first words to us will be "you stupid idiots."

"I only hope. Okay. Bye Kee"

"Bye"

They left, closing the door gently behind them.

I watched them as they left through my window, and wondered to myself what exactly had my mother gotten me into.

888

I hoped you liked it, more will be coming soon. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!


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